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Back in the days when Comet Records existed in Cork, I got into The Go-Betweens (Comet later became Plugd, which has now moved around the corner from Washington Street to the Triskel Arts Centre building). In those days, Comet used to sell Beggars Banquet releases on cassette for a fiver - and in those Walkman days, cassettes were my medium of choice. And so I found The Go-Betweens: 1978-1990. I was vaguely aware of the band - I think I had heard Bachelor kisses on Dave Fanning's radio show a few times during the 80's. But I didn't own anything by the band. Of course, typical me, to become interested in the band after they'd broken up (in fact, both Grant McLennan and Robert Forster had released their first solo efforts by this time). I think it was the sleevenotes that sold me on it. Each song had a short note from either Grant or Robert. Like this one by Grant, for Bye bye pride -

Cairns is a lazy, small town full of boats and cane fields. It is also unbearably hot.…

Gorgeous baroque pop with a psych folk edge like a meeting of The Zombies and Nick Drake, with a side of Bob Lind, the definition of a lost classic. Here’s the story in the man’s own words.

"It was September 1969 and I was 20 years old. I walked into a Parisian recording studio full of orchestra and Eddy Vartan (the producer). The result, two weeks later was the album 'The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas' [Disc'Az]. The label owner [Lucien Morisse] who had signed me up, died a few weeks later and the album was never released. So I went on my way. I taught water skiing on an Italian island and skiing in the Swiss Alps. I carried on writing and would play my songs to my mother (my only fan) in her kitchen where the sound was good. When she died, I recorded the album 'Suitcase Man' with some of Cat Stevens' musicians and the album went to No.1 in Spain. The label forgot to pay me but I did get to open for Leonard Cohen in Spain which was probably worth more…